Albert Barnes Commentary Job 26

How have you helped him who is without power? - It has been doubted whether this refers to Job himself, the two friends of Bildad, or to the Deity. Rosenmuller.

The connection, however, seems to demand that it should be referred to Job himself. It is sarcastical.

Bildad had come as a friend and comforter. He had also, in common with Eliphaz and Zophar, taken upon himself the office of teacher and counsellor. He had regarded Job as manifesting great weakness in his views of God and His government, as destitute of all strength to bear up correctly under trials. Now, all that he had done to aid one so weak was found in the impertinent and irrelevant generalities of his brief speech.

Job is indignant that one with such pretensions should have said nothing more to the purpose.

Herder, however, renders this as if it related entirely to God, and it cannot be denied that the Hebrew would bear this:

“Whom do you help? Him who has no strength?
Whom do you vindicate? Him whose arm has no power?
To whom do you give counsel? One without wisdom?
Truly, you have taught him much wisdom.”

How do you save the arm that has no strength? - That is, your remarks are not adapted to invigorate the feeble.

He had come professedly to comfort and support his afflicted friend in his trials. Yet Job asks what there was in his observations that was fitted to produce this effect?

Instead of declaiming on the majesty and greatness of God, he should have said something that was adapted to relieve an afflicted and a troubled soul.

How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? - As he had undertaken to give counsel to another, and to suggest views that might be adapted to elevate his mind in his depression, and to console him in his sorrows, he had a right to expect more than he had found in his speech.

And how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is? - The word rendered “the thing as it is” (תשׁיה tûshı̂yâh) properly denotes a setting upright, uprightness—from ישׁה yāshah; then help, deliverance (Job 6:13); purpose, undertaking, enterprise (Job 5:12); then counsel, wisdom, understanding (Job 11:6; Job 12:16). In this context, it is synonymous with reason, wisdom, or truth.

The word rendered “plentifully” (לרב larôb) means “for multitude,” or abundantly. The sense here is that Bildad had made extraordinary pretensions to wisdom, and this was the result. This short, irrelevant speech was all—a speech that communicated nothing new and met none of the real difficulties of the case.

To whom hast thou uttered words? - Jerome renders this, Quem docere voluisti? “Whom do you wish to teach?” The sense is, “Do you attempt to teach me in such a manner, on such a subject? Do you take it that I am so ignorant of the perfections of God, that such remarks about him would convey any real instruction?”

And whose spirit came from thee? - That is, by whose spirit did you speak? What claims do you have to inspiration, or to the uttering of sentiments beyond what man himself could originate? The meaning is, that there was nothing remarkable in what he had said that would show that he had been indebted for it either to God or to the wise and good on earth.

Dead things – Job here begins his description of God. He aims to show that his views of God's majesty and glory were in no way inferior to what Bildad had expressed, and that Bildad's words offered him no new information.

In this description, he far surpasses Bildad in loftiness of conception and sublimity of description. Indeed, it is debatable whether any description of God's majesty in the Bible surpasses this passage in grandeur.

This passage has led to much discussion and a wide variety of opinions. Our common translation is very weak and does not convey its true force at all. The object of the whole passage is to assert the universal dominion of God.

Bildad had said (Job 25:1–6) that God's dominion extended to the heavens and to the armies of the skies, that God surpassed in majesty the splendor of the heavenly bodies, and that compared with Him, man was a worm.

Job begins his description by stating that God's dominion extended even to the world below. Such were His majesty and power, he implies, that even the shades of the mighty dead trembled at His presence, and Sheol was completely exposed before Him.

The word רפאים (râphâ'ı̂ym) – Rephaim – so weakly translated “dead things,” means the shades of the dead: the departed spirits that live in Sheol (see this word explained at length in the notes on Isaiah 14:9).

These Rephaim are those who have left this world and gone down to live in the world below – the great and mighty conquerors and kings, the illustrious dead of past times, who have departed this world and are gathered in the land of Shades.

Jerome translates it as “gigantes,” and the Septuagint, γίγαντες (gigantes) – giants. This translation stems from a common belief that these shades were larger than life. Thus, Lucretius says:

Quippe et enim jam tum divum mortalia secla
Egregias animo facies vigilante videbant;
Et magis in somnis, mirando corporis aucter
Rer. Nat. ver. 1168.

The word “shades” here expresses the meaning: the departed spirits assembled in Sheol. The Chaldee translates it as גבריא – mighty ones, or giants; the Syriac, similarly, translates it as giants.

Are formed – The Syriac translates this as “are killed.” Jerome translates it as gemunt – “groan.” The Septuagint asks, “Are giants born from beneath the water, and the neighboring places?” It is difficult to determine what idea the authors of that version attached to the passage.

The Hebrew word used here, יחוּללוּ (y^echôlālû) – from חוּל (chûl) – means to twist, to turn, or to be in anguish, as in childbirth. It can then mean to tremble, quake, or be in terror.

The idea here seems to be that the shades of the dead were in anguish, or trembled, at the awesome presence and under the dominion of God. So Luther translates it – understanding it as referring to giants – “Die Riesen angsten sich unter den Wassern.” The meaning would be well expressed as: “The shades of the dead tremble, or are in anguish before Him. They fear His power. They acknowledge His dominion.”

Under the waters – The dwelling place of departed spirits is always placed beneath the ground in this book. But why this dwelling place is placed beneath the waters is not clear. It is usually under the ground, and the entrance to it is through the grave or some dark cavern (compare Virgil’s Aeneid, Book VI).

A different interpretation of this verse has been proposed, which seems to better suit the context. This interpretation understands the phrase תחת (tachath), “under,” as meaning simply “beneath”—thus, “the shades beneath.” It also regards the word מים (mayı̂m), “waters,” as connected with the following phrase:

“The shades beneath tremble;
The waters and the inhabitants thereof.”

Explained this way, the passage means that the whole universe is under God’s control and trembles before Him. Sheol and its shades, the oceans and their inhabitants, stand in awe before Him.

And the inhabitants thereof – This refers to the inhabitants of the waters, the oceans. The idea is that the vast inhabitants of the deep all recognize God’s power and tremble before Him. This description aligns with those given by ancient poets of the power and majesty of the gods, and is no less sublime than any they provided.

Hell — Hebrew שׁאול (she'ol) — Sheol; Greek ᾅδης (Hadēs) — Hades. The reference is to the abode of departed spirits—the nether world where the dead were congregated; see the notes at Job 10:21-22. It does not mean here, as the word "hell" means to us, a place of punishment, but the place where all the dead were supposed to be gathered together.

Is naked before him — That is, he looks directly upon that world. It is hidden from us, but not from him. He sees all its inhabitants, knows all their activities, and sways a scepter over them all.

And destruction — Hebrew אבדון ('ăbaddôn) — Abaddon; compare Revelation 9:11, And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. The Hebrew word means destruction, and then abyss, or place of destruction, and is evidently given here to the place where departed spirits are supposed to reside. The word in this form occurs only here and in Proverbs 15:11; Psalms 88:11; Job 26:6, in all which places it is rendered "destruction." The idea here is not that this is a place where souls are destroyed, but that it is a place similar to destruction—as if all life, comfort, light, and joy were extinguished.

Has no covering — There is nothing to conceal it from God. He looks down even on that dark nether world and sees and knows all that is there. There is a passage somewhat similar to this in Homer, quoted by Longinus as one of unrivaled sublimity, but which by no means surpasses this. It occurs in the Iliad, xx. 61-66:

Εδδεισεν δ ̓ ὑτένερθεϚ ἄναξ ἐνέρων Αιδωνεὺς, κ. τ. λ.

Eddeisen d' hupenerthen anac enerōn Aidōneus, etc.

Deep in the dismal regions of the dead
The infernal monarch reared his horrid head,
Leaped from his throne, lest Neptune’s arm should lay
His dark dominions open to the day,
And pour in light on Pluto’s drear abodes,
Abhorred by men, and dreadful even to gods.

Pope